Argon beam coagulators have been known for many years, and examples are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,040,426, 6,039,736 and 6,197,026. The first example is an end-effect instrument, in which the ionised gas exits through the end of the instrument, while the latter two examples are directed at side-effect instruments, in which the ionised gas exits the instrument though an aperture in the side of the instrument. Such instruments are often referred to as APC instruments (Argon Plasma Coagulation).
APC systems require the supply of both an ionisable gas and also RF energy to ionise the gas. U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,707 describes a connector device for an APC system, with connections for both RF energy and a gas supply.